Frances Johnson

Recent Posts

Many marketers think of their process as a funnel. You spend time and resources to attract a large group of potential customers at the top of your funnel, and then a much smaller group of people come out the bottom of the funnel as converted customers. Then you start again with a whole new group of people at the top, wash, rinse, repeat. But the funnel model leaves out one key marketing reality. Unlike an actual funnel where what comes out the bottom has no impact on what goes into the top, the experience of customers at the bottom of your funnel can have a big impact on whether they come back—and whether they refer other people to your company.

For businesses focused on marketing themselves to other businesses, social media marketing might feel unnecessary or out of scope. Or maybe, since it’s a bit outside your normal tactics, you worry that your team doesn’t have the expertise to execute a social media marketing strategy successfully.

Well, do we have good news for you.

Not only can social media have a big impact on B2B marketing, it’s probably not as hard or time-consuming as you think. Here are five tips to maximize your business-to-business social media marketing efforts and grow your online presence.

Even in the digital age, there is value in meeting customers, clients, and prospects in person, and trade shows offer excellent opportunities. Even with more digital marketing tools available than ever, 30 percent of companies reported plans to increase their trade show marketing budget last year. The only way to get a return on that investment, though, is to have a solid plan going into your trade shows, including a digital marketing plan that will give you all the bang your buck has to offer. Here are three marketing strategies to get the most out of your trade show budget and experience.

In the workplace of just a generation ago, the Rolodex was about as advanced as client management got. For some people, old habits die hard (my mom still swears by her Rolodex, and it is embarrassing). For the rest of us, there are plenty of digital tools and automated workstreams to help you track and cash in on big opportunities.

A few years ago I went to see a concert at an outdoor venue. The opening act had a terrible sound system and we had to strain to hear anything. (Though when we finally did hear them we decided maybe missing out on the sound wasn’t such a bad thing.) When the main act came on stage, their equipment was much better. Their amplifiers and loudspeakers provided the right level of volume without distorting the sound. We felt like we were on the front row even though our tickets were for the lawn.

Despite increased marketing opportunities on social media, email still outperforms social media when it comes to nurturing sales leads and converting them into paying customers. According to one study email is up to six times more effective than social media. But not just any old email will do. To get the most out of your emails, think beyond just open rates and consider how your marketing emails can engage your customer and create dollars-and-cents results. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Turning browsers into buyers is key to any sales organization’s success, and an eye-catching, well-worded, well-placed call-to-action (CTA) is one of the best ways to do it. A CTA is a button on your website that a visitor clicks to claim an offer. But first, they provide a variety of targeted information that you can use to guide them further down the path to becoming a customer. It’s the very definition of a win-win.

But for any of it to work, visitors to your website, blog, or other online property have to click on the CTA in the first place. Follow these five simple steps to make sure they do.